Twitter was launched in 2006, and no one ever guessed back then that how Twitter will change the world hashtag-by-hashtag. Before Twitter, the # key was little more than something found on telephones to denote “number”.

Whether you are new to Twitter or a seasoned pro, #FirstTweet got everyone going for sure. Just like Twitter users, Twitter has also evolved enormously in the last eight years. To celebrate this journey and success with its users, it has just released, a fun tool to help you discover your first tweet.

Twitter has concreted itself as a digital soapbox, and women seem to have taken it way too easily. Recently Forbes published The Top 20 Women Social Media Influencerswhich intrigued me about the first tweet of these influences so here you go:

So now when you are familiar with the new exciting features of Twitter, time to look at some effective ways of applying them. If you missed my previous post, click here What’s New to twitter?

Twitter will start rolling out the new change to Profile Pages to the users over the next few weeks. In the interim, it’s a good time for brands to start thinking about how they will leverage this new . Here are some tips to help get you started:

Plan Your New Profile and Cover Images: There is no better time than now to begin designing and developing your new cover photo and profile image to meet the new Twitter requirements. Twitter recommends dimensions for the header photo of 1500px in width × 500px in height.

Offer Specials with Pinned Tweets: You now have the chance to feature a specific tweet at the top of your profile page to let new visitors get a fuller sense of who you are and what your profile is entirely more or less. One thing for brands to consider is featuring a tweet that offers an exclusive piece of content to visitors. For example, feature a tweet that offers a case study, white paper, infographic or eBook to help get visitor engagement.

Use the Mobile Features for Photo Sharing: Tagging multiple people and posting multiple photos is a great way for brands to better engage with their audience. Consider posting multiple photos that illustrate a story or message to your audience and tag individuals that you think would appreciate the message.

Larger Profile Image: The larger profile image on the new version of Twitter gives users more real estate to set the tone of their page. Consider changing profile photos on an ongoing basis to help keep users coming back.

Make your Photos Count: This new version of Twitter places a deep emphasis on photos and video. Publish photos that are eye catching and entertaining. This will help to increase engagement when visitors choose to filter your tweets using the photo/video filter.

Finally, brands can expect to see more changes from Twitter in the not-so-distant future. Just last week, Vivian Schiller, Twitter’s head of new partnerships shook the “twitterverse” by suggesting that hashtags and @replies are “arcane” and could possibly be a thing of the past. When asked to clarify the remarks, Twitter representatives had this to say: “By bringing the content of Twitter forward and pushing the scaffolding of the language of Twitter to the background, we can increase high-quality interactions and make it more likely that new or casual users will find this service as indispensable as our existing core users do. And we took initial steps in that direction with the introduction of media forward timelines and in-line social actions in October, and we’re already starting to see early signs that those initiatives are working well.”

What do you think about the new changes to twitter? Are you, or your brand, looking forward to them?

Twitter began implementing a new design recently that has a major impact both on the interface and functions of the platform. The new look shares sundry similarities with Facebook and focuses more on enhancing the overall user experience while making it easier to steer and sift through tweets.

The most noticeable area of the latest Twitter upgrade are the changes to profile and cover images. The new cover photo spans the entire header of the profile page and replaces the background image used in the previous version of Twitter. The look is very neat and offers users the ability to focus on a single image for their profile page. In addition, users profile images are bigger making it easier to see the tweep (Twitter User).

From a functional standpoint, Twitter has also introduced new functionality to improve the user experience by focusing on the most significant content. The three areas with the biggest functional bearing are:

“Best Tweets”: This feature is fascinating because it will help profile visitors sort through the noise of Twitter profiles by highlighting the tweets that have generated the most engagement. Content with the maximum engagement will appear with larger text, making it easier for users to find and engage with.

“Pinned Tweets”: I find this feature very rewarding for the everyone because it offers a lot of benefits for brands as well as individual users. This gives you the ability to “Pin” of feature one of your tweets at the top of your profile stream so visitors to your profile see it instantaneously.

Filtered Tweets: This is another flattering feature that improves the overall user experience and makes it further user friendly. Twitter now gives visitors the option of choosing which timeline to view when checking out profiles. Users can select: a basic Twitter stream, a stream of only photos and videos, or tweets and replies.

Lastly, the new follower & following list: Twitter has made the following/followers lists much more graphically positioned. You can now see who is following a profile and who they are followers of through an easy to understand graphical interface.

Latest Mobile Functionality

In addition to the upgrades made this week on Twitter.com, Twitter has also rolled out some noteworthy upgrades to their mobile interface for photo sharing. The new functionality has made the Twitter mobile client more dynamic for photos and includes:

Support for tagging up to 10 people in a photo – without impacting the 140 character limit Through the mobile interface, you can now tag photos with up to 10 individuals and the best part is the number of individuals tagged in a photo does not impact the 140 character limit. Twitter’s blog offers the instructions below:

Share Multiple Photos in a Single Tweet Twitter has implemented the ability to add multiple (up to four) photos to a single tweet. This feature automatically creates a collage that visitor can scroll through as they view the tweet. Below is an example showing the four photos and the lightbox that appears in the gallery.

What do you think about the new changes to twitter? Are you, or your brand, looking forward to them?

In my next post, we will talk about the “Top Tips for Brands Looking to Leverage the New Functionality”.

Resolutions fail because they are vague, they can be easily achieved if we pin down the actions rather than the goal itself. Most common and apt business resolution is to optimise the Twitter Profile this year, and here’s my new year gift to you all. An action packed list to help you achieve this goal:

1) Stitch in time saves nine
How secure is your password? Test it here http://howsecureismypassword.net “Change is good” and a periodic change for your password is a security mandate. Can I ask when was the last time you changed your Twitter or any frequently used account password? Ah! I can imagine your wide-opened eyes and dropped jaw for your own answer.

2) Would YOU follow you?Check your profile often and keep questioning yourself. I am sure your profile looks great, it is recommended to enliven it every now and then. How about reviewing your design settings now and refreshing it. https://twitter.com/settings/design This is a wonderful feature. You can even customise the design based on an upcoming event of your business.

3) Is your Bio up-to-date?
You were on the drawing board last summer and revised your business’s profile to be in sync with your expanded line of product, services and the new goals. It should reflect accurately at your social footprints as well just like your employee book, website and all the policies. Time to review your twitter bio and re-write, if required. https://twitter.com/settings/profile

4) Give it a little swirl
This is an appropriate time to review the people you are following. Unfollow the ones you just started following in the flow, start following a few new and keep the mix right. Twitter profile health checks offered by “Twitter Counter” can be a good place to start.

5) Get better with a Bitly account
Twitter automatically shortens URLs for you when you compose a tweet. But they use their own shortened and that doesn’t give you any access to the statistics that you may essentially need. Some Twitter interfaces let you to connect to Bitly and that way you can always go back to that site to see which URLs did good.

6) Get an app
The web interface of Twitter is fine, however its helpful to have an app for your smart devices and see if it helps you operate your social world more effectively. HootSuite, TweeDeck, TweetCaster, Scheduling, managing different accounts and platform at once, statistics are some features of these apps and interfaces that can help you achieve your goals and carve your content and twitter strategy.

7) Pull the plug for all unwanted apps
This is yet another very important security arena we often miss. The number of apps you have given permission to do mostl everything they want on your account. The number will surely surprise you. Some might still be appropriate, but there might be a few you tested once and never used even for a second time. They are better off if disconnected. https://twitter.com/settings/applications

8) Flourish with more Followers
Never stop announcing your presence, the excitement and efforts should be as fresh as when you had just started on Twitter. Mention your Twitter handle in your email signature, contact page, sidebar of your blog, Google+ page, LinkedIn profile.. at every social footprint of yours. Are your employees aware of your social footprints? You could be losing on a ready to use followers base. Don’t leave any stone unturned. Employee handbook, newsletter, sen an email to the employees and your customers with a friendly reminder that you are active on Twitter and a few instructions on how to follow you. Try making it visible at the entrance to your office.

9) Love is a universal language
Twitter wouldn’t be Twitter without the engagements between tweeps. Show some love to your followers and keep the conversation on. Retweets, replies and the stars keep tweeps connected and a bit of the mention goes a long way.

With the above and a few tips from my previous post, your social footprints will shine with the glory.

Just like you I was totally tempted to surrender to the bubbly, mulled wine, cookies and cakes so I started with the yearly housekeeping and just then it occured to me that I am meant to do the yearly tidying to my social as well.

Well whilst you decorate your Christmas tree and warm up for the New Year cheer, this is a suitable time to do a little social media housekeeping. Here are top 14 stars to add glamour and sturdiness to your social cheer. Get them all done and you’ll enter the New Year with a stronger base.

Verify your Google profile – Google+ made colossal progress this year. You can try some simple updates. If you haven’t already, customize your URL so your company page is legitimate and easier to find and share.

Tarot card readings didn’t fetch you well this year? Try Twitter Cards? Well I find Twitter’s Lead Generation Cards very promising. They allow you to collect leads directly from tweets. Christmas is a great time to try new things, and these have no form for users to fill in – cherry on the top, isn’t it?

Fine tune your content – Now is a good time to review all the content shared and plan ahead. Be creative. Experiment!

Take a Google Analytics course – No business is complete without acumens. Insights is everything. Google analytics course will be a true investment of your time and money, well only the time as it’s free now.

A lot can happen over LinkedIn –Sponsored Updates allow businesses to promote any post from their company page directly into a specific demographics’ news feed. Give it a go.

Be the “Titleholder” – Had a good social 2013? Highlight your work with internal staging, newsletter and creative comms using Vine, videos, infographics. Celebrate your social triumph!

“My father taught me many things … keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” (Yes, I was watching “Godfather” last night. Yes, Again!)– Take a few steps back and get the wider view of the marketplaces. Understand what worked well for your competitors and what didn’t. Learn and take notes to fin-tune your social strategy.

Play with video – Now you can create and edit videos on the Instagram app as well as photos. And what’s more, these videos outdo the 6 second restriction of Vine, so it’s worth testing which platforms work best for you.

Get on the right side of the law – The legal systems of any nation wasn’t made with social in mind so they have had to adapt. Get better prepared for legislation in 2014. An appropriate time to refresh and brush the legal knowledge. Research time!

Re-state your statement – Once you’re aware of the legal risks, you’ll no doubt want to get your housekeeping in order. Re-draft your social policy; it should cover everything from changing passwords to protecting the company against liability caused by your workforce. Many free and reliable workbooks are available online.

Sieve and revive – Get rid of the channels which are not suited for your business and re-focus your efforts on active platforms.

Surf the net for inspiration – This is a great time to do a bit of research. Some casual surfing can land you with great ideas for the next twelve months. Start by checking out what competitors have been up to!

Social also needs some “alone-time” – While business is not that chaotic and busy, reflect upon the risks and vulnerabilities in social. What worked for you and where could you improve? How will you go about making change? Who else in your company could you tempt with cake to get some guidance?

Before you get Christmassy – Before you pour that drink to your success, plan the social media content and dispenser during the holidays. There should be Christmas in the virtual world as well. Isn’t it?

Individual leaders also face a fabricated dichotomy to forge their identity as a rigorous, results-oriented tyrant or be a nurturing, naive softy who doesn’t meet targets. In some settings, an individual leader is perceived as powerful and effectual only if they are unemotional.

Contrary to the expectation that leaders can emulate machines, positions of power are actually centres of intense emotional experience; responsibility, loyalty, and trust are major concerns in the mind of a leader. Nonetheless, the business climate has favoured delegitimizing such emotional considerations.

“The instinct of a spectacular leader is to have emotional awareness of those around him in order to support the requirements for long-term company success.

“Today, this leadership instinct is suppressed.”

Time to wake up to the value and rewards of allowing emotion into your leadership practices, your workplace behaviour and your brand’s presence.

Not a replacement for your business strategies. But rather an additional element to what you do.

Are we still social in the right way? Is it a possibility that we are becoming less social with the excessive use of Social Networking platforms? It appears that ironically social networking means are making us ‘Less Social’?

Not only the social activities, there is an overload of the information as well – by news and information from an ever-increasing number of social media channels. Increasingly, news is coming to us through our friend and interest networks, via Google+, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.. there’s a never ending list.

Have we given it a thought that sometimes our reasoning powers in making sense of things is adversely affected if there is an overload of the information. Think of those times when you are not able to pick a pair of shoe as you got confused with too many options. (Yes, too many options can impact the reasoning and decision making ability in any scenario).

Everyone is always only talking about information and losing the sense of being receptive still. “Are we becoming “Infomaniac”?

According to a GlobalWebIndex study:

Mobile – with the number of people accessing the internet via a mobile phone increasing by 60.3% to 818.4 million in the last 2 years.

Older users adoption – On Twitter the 55-64 year age bracket is the fastest growing demographic with 79% growth rate since 2012. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook’s and Google+’s networks are the 45 to 54 year age bracket at 46% and 56% respectively.

Facebook

Facebook continues to grow

Daily active users have reached 665 million

Monthly active users have passed 1.1 billion for the first time

751 million mobile users access Facebook every month

Mobile only active users total 189 million

Twitter

21% of the world’s internet population are using Twitter every month. Yes, Twitter is the fastest growing social network in the world by active users. (A GlobalWebIndex Study says)

So how does that translate into hard numbers?

44% growth from June 2012 to March 2013

288 million monthly active users

Over 500 million registered accounts

Twitter’s fastest growing age demographic is 55 to 64 year olds, registering an increase in active users of 79%

YouTube

Be it new or old, no generation remembers VCR or DVD now. The paradigm shift from cable networks to the YouTube was even hardly felt.

Some take on YouTube dispersion into our culture and time:

1 billion unique monthly visitors

6 billion hours of videos are watched every month

Google+

Google+ is making a bearing impression on the social media space, and is now the second largest social network.

359 million monthly active users according to a GlobalWebIndex study

Its active users base grew by 33% from June 2012 through to March 2013

Today morning I rambled upon an article highlighting a research report which actually reinforced this thought. To be honest, I was not too pleased with my self-check results as well.

You may like to a quick self-check as well. My heartfelt congratulations to you if you did not fall in any of the following categories.

34% check their smartphone after sex,

23% go on Twitter more than 10 times a day,

51% check social network sites at dinner,

62% use their phones while shopping and

42% will stop a conversation if their phone beeps.

One person was quoted: “Sometimes I wake up in the night and reach for my phone so I can do a Tweet”.

And another: “I take pictures of my food, my feet….pretty much anything and post it online”.

Some other intriguing statistics that seem to reinforce this sense of “information omnipresence”:

The average Briton now has 26 Internet accounts for everything from email and bank services to online shopping, social media sites, Skype and Paypal.

The average worker checks his email inbox 36 times every hour.

1 in 3 smartphone owners would rather give up sex than their mobile phone (Pew Research)

90% of 18 – 29 year olds say they will sleep wit their phone in or beside their bed (Pew Research)

1 in 10 say they are woken at least a few times per week by calls, texts or emails (Pew Research)

It’s easy to share, just the matter of a click which is of course the beauty of social media space and with applications like Flipborad etc. you can even organise all of our social personas under one roof. The easiness shouldn’t prompt the mindless and frictionless sharing all the time. Sometimes it’s better to share the things a few in the old-fashioned way then sharing with the entire world.

Resolving a relationship is not an option now. It has been taken over by the “end” the relationship with this new protocol of “unfriending”. Why to take the trouble when you can just end things with one click? Is it? Possibly this one-button-does-everything mentality as well that we’re now so used to is making us less social and more insensitive to the feelings of others? We have an oxymoron where we are using social media as an anti-social behaviour.

Maybe we should think about what we’re losing – the social skills that help us establish trust and understanding with our fellow society members, and rediscovering those quality conversations.

Psychologists also looking at it in various lights which I am not to touch upon here as that’s not an area of expertise for me. (I am usually reminded that I may be in a need of one. Who? Of course my husband, who else can be so doting)

Well let’s not digress. Can I ask you something?

Facebook post or a hand-written birthday card from a friend?

A hand-writing birthday card or a quick call?

A quick call or a surprise visit / birthday party?

If your best choice from the above is Facebook post then I may recon you to start practicing “disconnecting to reconnect” right away on daily basis (from 10-60 minutes at least) until you get a “Life”.

If you were even vaguely mentioned in this read, make sure to “Disconnect to Reconnect”. At least call your loved ones this festive season rather than sending a whatsapp. Facebook post, tweet or an email.

By no means I am against social media platforms and advancing communication technology rather I am a big fan on of all and a thorough user myself but I am scared of losing the balance. Use these nextworking modes as an addition, and not as a replacement.